Lemhi Mountain Range - Yellow Peak and Iron Creek Peak

Here are a couple of panorama's from the Lemhi Mountain Range in central Idaho home to the Lemhi River, Little Lost River, Hayden Creek, and lots of small streams:

Video - Blackfoot River Flyfishing

Here's a video of my dad catching a cutthroat on the Blackfoot River. Right after I quit filming he landed two in the 20" range. As usual my timing was imperfect at best.

Weekend Fishing - Blackfoot River Idaho

To celebrate my Father's birthday, we went fishing on Blackfoot River on Saturday. We caught probably 40+ fish between the two of us in about 5 hours. My dad hooked into two really nice 20+ inch cutthroats but lost them before I could get my act together and net them. He did land a couple in the 20" range and caught quite a few 6-12" cutthroats.

I landed one beautiful cutthroat - a 24" 4-5 pounder on a grasshopper fly that I skittered (my word for moving the fly across the surface of the water at the end of a run) across the water. He came up and drilled it on the surface. It was awesome to watch him come up and bust the grasshopper.

Here are some pictures of the big cutthroat:

No one fly was hotter than the other. We caught fish on bead head prince and hare's ear nymphs, various grasshopper patterns, and on a blue damsel fly.

Another awesome fishing day on the Blackfoot River.

Weekend Fishing Report - McTucker Ponds

Friday - McTucker Ponds

Friday was my son's birthday and for his birthday party we went fishing with the cousins to McTucker Ponds. They all caught quite a few little green sunfish and had a great time catching fish. The green sunfish at McTucker Ponds are all pretty small but it is a great place for kids to go and to catch a lot of fish.

Here are some pics:

Sublett Reservoir Fishing Report

I wandered off my normal beaten path and took my son to Sublett Reservoir in Cassia County. The water was very very low and the reservoir doesn't have much left to it. We caught one 14" rainbow on a green bead head woolly bugger. I had more strikes but the fishing were just nipping at the tail end of the fly so strikes didn't result in hook ups.

When we left we drove above the reservoir and noticed 20+ fish probably all in the 16-20" range about 20 feet from shore sitting in the old stream channel. If we had seen these fish sooner we probably would have tried some sight casting to them. Oh well.

Idaho's Blackfoot River

Last Friday our group of 4 caught over 30 fish on the Upper Blackfoot River. It wasn't the best day but each of us caught one fish over 20". My sister-in-law landed a 23 inch Cutthroat. Regretfully we didn't have a camera at that moment.

Hot flies:

1. Bead head prince/hare's ear nymph (size 14-16)
2. Blue Damsel Fly

Grasshoppers are starting to get thick!

Here are some pics:

Blackfoot River Idaho - Catching a Yellowstone Cutthroat on the fly

Here's a video of my younger brother catching a cutthroat on the Blackfoot River (and getting his line all messed up!):

Blackfoot River Idaho

The Blackfoot River was a low for this time of year but the fishing was ok. I caught 6 cutthroats - one 21", 2 16", and the rest were 8-10". I lost a couple of nice fish too. The best news....no carp!! Last year carp were everywhere but it looks like the carp trap is back in the river and doing its job.

Hot flies:

1. Black and red/orange bead head woolly bugger (size 4)
2. Bead Head Hair's Ear (size 14)
3. Bead Head Prince Nymph (size 14)
4. A white Thingamabob (yes I had numerous trout try to take my strike indicator!)

Hopefully over the next few weeks we will see the blue damselflies and some other fly hatches.

Here is the 21" cutthroat caught on a black and red woolly bugger (size 4) (same pic/different angle):

Birch Creek Idaho

I had to go to Salmon, Idaho for work and on the way back to Pocatello I stopped at Birch Creek for a few hours of fishing. I caught a lot of fish but they were all little (sometimes very little!). The biggest fish I caught was a 10" Rainbow.

Hot flies: Para Adams - Size 18.

Stump Creek Idaho

Dodging soaking thunderstorms was the name of the game on Stump Creek this last Friday. In between some drenching thunderstorms, fishing was quite good. Between three fisherman, we caught over 40 fish and missed a lot more. Most fish were in the 8-10" class but we caught around 15 that were 12" +. I caught around 20 fish - one 18" brown and the rest were cutthroat. A really nice 18" snapped my line. 

The top flies today were black woolly buggers (size 4-6). Woolly buggers that had a bead head, and were black with red, orange, and purple were the best. We also caught quite a few on bead head hairs ears and prince nymphs (size 14-16). A small mayfly hatch was starting to come on but the 1" of rain in 30 minutes put a hold on the hatch. 

Stripping the woolly bugger or allowing it to drag at the end of the hole seemed to provide the best action.

Below are pics of a 18" Brown caught in a deep hole under a willow bush and a nice 14" cutthroat.

Stump Creek - June 13-14

Stump Creek was still a little high for quality fishing. On Friday night I caught one little whitefish on a bead head  hare's ear but other than that the fishing was dead (which may have been due to my lack of skills not the fishing). There were no fly hatches on the river yet. The weather turned nasty on Saturday with rain, wind, and cold so I trip ended early. Stump Creek will be great in a few more weeks once the water recedes to more normal flows.

Oneida Narrows Reservoir

Last week my family went to Oneida Narrows Reservoir near Preston, Idaho. It was beautiful day and we were able to catch 10+ Smallmouth Bass on red and black beadhead wooly worms (size 4). A couple of the Smallmouths reached 14" and were about 2 lbs. We fished off the bank with a spinning rod, clear bubble and fly. A boat or pontoon would be excellent on this reservoir.

Blackfoot River Flow

It looks like another poor water flow for the Blackfoot River: USGS graph (flow is already close to its 25th percentile with the main snow pack already melted)



Without some significant rain, fishing on the Blackfoot may be poor again this year with low water. Hopefully the Idaho Fish and Game learned their lesson last year and will keep the carp trap in its place.